artVentures 2016

I was honored to be one of the Nebraska artists working with the Girl Scouts in a program called artVenture. artVenture is a unique Girl Scouts program that matches small groups of girls with professional artists in a collaborative setting. Their original works of art are placed in a silent auction, all proceeds benefit Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska.

I worked with two fourth grade Girl Scouts to create our piece of art for the auction. They came to my studio to collaborate, get to know each other and become a fun, creative group. They were intrigued to see what a paper artist does, and they jumped right in! Our piece is an image of a girl and her butterflies, the girls on my team chose the subject, the colors, and the design. We had a wonderful discussion about what it is like to “have butterflies”, those nervous jitters in your tummy. Our discussion brought to light that the things that give us “butterflies” are experiences that lead us forward and help us grow. We decided to name our piece, Follow Your Butterflies! We were surprised and thrilled to be named the recipients of the 2016 Bradley Award.

Included in the artVenture experience each girl makes something they can keep, in addition to the collaborated piece that was auctioned. I had each girl make butterflies- the surprise was, I had their butterfly designs made into fabric, and a pillow for each girl made out of their own special fabric!